


Echoes

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-01
Updated: 2008-08-01
Packaged: 2019-01-19 15:23:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12412884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Another Lily and Marauders read Harry Potter story, but this one portrays the characters as a bit more real and slightly more serious. Enjoy!





	Echoes

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

Chapter 1

In the end it was all Remus’ fault. Of course no one blamed him but he still felt responsible. After all it _had_ been him who had been working late in the library on his potions essay. And it _had_ been him who had wandered into the wrong aisle and where there ought to have been a book detailing the twelve uses of dragon blood, he had found one with his best friend’s name on the title. 

At first everything was all right. He had brought up the book to his three best friends: James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew and the three of them just like Remus, were curious to know what the book contained. Peter was the first to notice that it wasn’t in fact James Potter’s name on the cover and rather a Harry Potter. Looking for any excuse to waste time not doing homework, the four of them migrated to the fireplace.

Remus and Sirius took the two ends of a three-seater sofa while James and Peter rearranged a few arm chairs so they faced the couch.

James read out loud the title. 

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. By J.K. Rowling.”

The four young men shrugged at each other. James handed it over to Peter who was sitting in the armchair to his right.

“I’ve never heard of any one named Rowling,” Remus mused thoughtfully. “Perhaps he is a Muggle?”

“She,” corrected Peter, reading the inside back flap. “There’s a picture of her. How strange, it’s not moving.”

He passed the book around but none of them recognized the face or the name. “She must be a Muggle then,” Sirius concluded. “I once heard Lily Evans telling Alice Prewett that pictures in the Muggle world don’t move.”

At the mention of Lily Evans, James’ ears mysteriously began to turn a rather violent shade of pink. However, before any of them could comment on it, the girl in question had appeared at the bottom of the stairs to the girls’ dormitories. Clad in a blue night gown, she paused and stared at the four boys, eyeing them suspiciously.

“Hello Evans! Fancy seeing you down here at one in the morning!” Sirius called out to her cheerfully, shaking his rather long black hair. 

She tossed her long auburn curls over her shoulder as she walked towards them. “What are you four doing here so late?” Her green eyes were narrowed. Just last year, if she had seen them there, she would automatically have assumed that they were planning to prank someone and probably taken points off. However, over the past year, she had become somewhat friends with them. True, they didn’t hang out or even run in the same circle, but they could stand being in the same room for more than five minutes at a time now and had taken to harmless, friendly bantering. 

“Ah, just reading,” Peter offered with a weak smile.

She snorted. “I just came down here for a drink of water. Please, carry on planning your newest prank.” It was amazing what being friends could do. She no longer yelled at them as long as they steered clear of her and her friends and even granted them leeway on certain occasions as long as the pranks were harmless and simply amusing.

“No! Evans- er Lily- it’s really just a book!” James grabbed the book out of Peter’s hand and waved it at her. 

She frowned as she caught a glimpse of the title. “Potter, does that book have your name on it?” She squinted at it, unable to make it out properly.

“No, someone named _Harry_ Potter,” clarified Remus. Her drink forgotten, she reached for the book in James’ hand. Remus chivalrously moved over so she could have a seat on the end of the couch. She silently read the summary and information about the author, just like Peter while Sirius and James, already bored, struck up a conversation about Quidditch with Peter chipping in with the occasional comment. However, unlike Peter, she stopped on a particular page while flipping through the book and gasped.

The four boys exchanged started looks, their conversation halted. 

“What is it?”

“What’s wrong?”

“This book… where did you find it?” she asked, sounding horrified. 

“In the library, on a shelf,” Remus told her. “Lily what-”

“No way! That’s impossible!” 

“Lily, what is?” Remus tried again.

“This book was published in 1997!” she exclaimed. Then she paused. “I suppose ‘will be’ is the right tense.” Then she shook herself. What was she thinking? As if this book really was going to be published in the future. “Oh what am I saying?! This is obviously a practical joke. Someone finally has gotten the best of the Marauders.”

Lily handed Remus the book and with a small laugh she got up and made her way over to the water dispenser in the corner of the common room. Though the seeds of doubt had successfully been planted in the minds of the four Marauders, they were still curious to see what this supposed book from the future had to say. 

“Well, prank or not, I’m still going to read it,” James declared. “You’re welcome to join us Flower.”

Lily huffed at the nickname she so detested. She sipped her glass of water thinking. After a few moments, she decided, seeing as she couldn’t sleep anyway, that she might as well stay to hear what the person who had pranked the Marauders had to say. She trashed her cup and went back to the couch, resuming her seat on the couch.

“Don’t call me Flower,” she said.

“Of course not Flower,” James grinned cheekily. It was no secret that James fancied Lily and he took every opportunity to tease her. He had definitely gotten better this year, being more polite and becoming a bit more mature. Yet, James would not be James without his constant quips and jokes, arrogance, or talent at practical jokes. 

Though Lily had spent years avoiding and refusing his advances, he continued to pester her. He’d finally stopped asking her out so much the past few months- oh he hadn’t stopped completely but he didn’t ask her out as often and finally having been able to talk about other things, they’d struck up some sort of a truce-like friendship. They continued to banter and argue but it was all in good fun and at the end of the day, everything was forgotten and the next day was a new day with a clean slate. 

After everyone had settled down comfortably, Remus cracked open the book and offered to read the first chapter out loud.

He cleared his throat and began.

**CHAPTER ONE THE BOY WHO LIVED**

“The boy who lived? What kind of title is that?” Sirius asked.

“Well, Black, it obviously means that this is a book about people who are alive,” Lily replied to his question.

“And here I was thinking it was about the underworld,” Sirius shot back, grinning. Lily simply rolled her eyes.

Remus shushed them and started reading.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

“You’re welcome,” James quipped cheekily with a wide grin.

Remus gave him a glare before continuing on.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

“What is nonsense?” Sirius asked mockingly, as if he were asking a philosophical question, moving his hands flowerily.

James, Peter, and Lily snorted. 

“Don’t do that mate,” James told him.

“Yeah,” Peter added. “You sound like Trelawny!” Sirius dropped his act immediately. If there was anyone that he hated as much as the Slytherins, it was Sybil Trelawny, the Hufflepuff in the year below them, who claimed that she could predict the future. Most people believed that she was full of crap. 

“Ok moving on!” 

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursley’s had a small son called Dudley-**

“Who names their kid Dudley?” Lily wondered out loud.

“Yeah,” James echoed. “I agree with everything Lily says tonight.”

“I’m not going out with you Potter.”

“So she thinks,” he whispered theatrically to Sirius and Peter.

“Oy for the millionth time people!” Remus cried, irritated. “Can I please get through a page without being interrupted after every line I read?”

“Sorry Remus,” Lily said, a little embarrassed. 

**The Dursley’s had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years: in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish**

“Is that even a word? Oh sorry Remus!” Peter hung his head while James and Sirius snickered.

**Her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

“A child like what?” asked James, confused.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

**None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window.**

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing cereal at the walls.**

“Wow this Rowling person sure knows how to give flattering descriptions,” Sirius commented.

“Yeah, I’m sure they’re not as bad as she makes them seem,” Lily agreed. “Wow did I just agree with Black? Dear Lord, the sky must be falling!”

BOOM!

All of them jumped at the sudden noise. Sirius grinned, holding up his wand. “That was the sound of the sky falling.”

Even Lily couldn’t contain her chuckle at that.

**"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive. It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map.**

“Don’t be ridiculous. Cats can’t read maps,” Lily said, rolling her eyes.

“Of course they can’t. Gee Evans, everyone knows that.” Sirius scoffed, pretending to be offended.

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen -then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight.**

**What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive** \- **No, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

“Well unless of course it was an animagus,” Remus pointed out.

“Ah it speaks!” Sirius cried theatrically.

“I think we’re allowed to speak without it glaring at us now,” James told the others. Remus had been shooting a dirty look at each time a remark was made. 

Remus ignored them and turned to Lily. “See what I have to put up with every day?”

She patted his arm. “I pity you.”

“Wait,” Peter said, speaking up after a while. “Why would an animagus be in a book about Muggles written by a Muggle?”

Everyone agreed that he had made a good point and after putting that thought out of their minds, continued reading.

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town, he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the get-ups you saw on young people!**

“Hey!” Sirius cried.

“What now, Sirius?” Remus asked wearily.

“He just insulted people wearing cloaks.”

“So?”

“I wear cloaks! Therefore I’m insulted.”

Remus rolled his eyes and ignored his friend.

**He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something ... yes, that would be it.**

**The traffic moved on, and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills.**

“Ooooh sounds dirty!” sniggered Sirius. He was hit on the head by a very well-aimed cushion.

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning.**

**He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though the people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

“Bringing the mail, naturally,” Remus interrupted his own reading.

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at night time. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled a five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunch-time, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker's opposite.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard -" "- yes, their son, Harry - "**

“Do you have any relatives named Harry?” Lily asked curiously. 

“I have a great uncle Harold,” he said with a shrug. “It’s probably not even about me. We decided this was a book about Muggles remember?”

“I said- and still say for that matter- that this is just some elaborate prank that someone’s cooked up to say that they’ve messed with the Marauder’s minds.”

“Which is still written by a Muggle- the non moving picture, remember? - about Muggles.”

Lily looked uncertain. “There _are_ an awful lot of coincidences though: the cloaks, the owls, the potentially animagus cat. I don’t know.” She bit her lip.“You look especially sexy, my dear, when you bite your lip like that.” 

Lily glared at James and told Remus to continue reading.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking...**

“A tellyfone is a muggle thing that people use to talk to each other right?” Peter asked Lily, as she was the only one with muggle parents. 

“Oh it’s sort of like the floo then?” James asked.

“Well not really,” Remus corrected. “On the telephone, you can only hear their voice, you can’t see their face. There’s this device that you have to speak into and the other person can hear you and talk back.”

James and Sirius, having never taken Muggle Studies, looked thoroughly confused. Peter on the other hand had seen a picture in his Muggle Studies class from three years ago and could somewhat follow Remus’ description.

“Never mind,” Remus sighed, looking at the blank looks on his friends’ faces.

**No, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name.**

**He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon, and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.**

**It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare: "Don't be sorry my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like your self should be celebrating this happy, happy day!"**

“It’s about wizards!”

“Potter, don’t shout,” Lily admonished. “You’ll wake up half the house.”

“But it’s about us! I mean our world!”

“Yes we all heard Remus same as you Prongsie.”

“Don’t call me that!” James said at the same time Lily curiously asked “Prongsie?”

“Nothing,” the four boys chorused, exchanging secret looks with each other. Lily looked at them strangely but decided to drop it.

Remus cleared his throat awkwardly and returned to the book.

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was.**

“A non-Magic person!”

“We know, Peter.”

“But he obviously doesn’t know seeing as he’s a Muggle and therefore wouldn’t know what a Muggle was.” Sirius stopped. “Did that sentence confuse everyone or was it just me?” 

**He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

**As he pulled into the driveway at number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

“Yeah right like that’s gonna work,” James muttered under his breath.

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

**Was this normal cat behavior, Mr. Dursley wondered? Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word (Shan't).**

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

“Oh! On the tellyvishon right?” Peter asked excitedly.

“Television,” Lily and Remus corrected at the same time.

“Whatever. I’ve always wanted to see one of those. It sounds really cool!”

“Muggle devices are so complicated,” James whined. 

“Only for small brains,” Sirius quipped, earning him a laugh from Lily and a kick to his shin from James.

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The news reader allowed himself a grin. “Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it’s not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain that I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars!**

**Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early** \- **It's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

“Hey maybe we should make it rain shooting stars from the ceiling in the great hall!” James said excitedly.

“But then would you still call it raining? Wouldn’t it be shooting-staring?” Sirius pondered. He was ignored.

“Or we could make it only rain shooting stars on Snivellus!” James shot an apologetic look at Lily. “Sorry Flower, I know you’re friends with him and don’t like us pranking him.” He turned back to his friends. “Hey how about Lestrange?”

As the four boys, Remus reluctantly falling in, began to discuss the prospect of making it rain shooting stars over Lestrange for an entire day, Lily looked at James for a moment, unsure of what to say. She finally settled on a simple “Thanks,” and turned away quickly. She interrupted the boys’ conversation and commanded Remus to continue reading.

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...Mrs. Dursley came into the living-room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

“I have a sister named Petunia,” Lily commented.

“Really?” James asked. “I never knew that.”

“Yeah. She hates me.”

“What why?” Peter asked. “It’s impossible to hate you Lily.”

“Aww. Thanks Peter. She hates me because I’m a witch.” 

“Oh that’s awful! I’m sorry,” Peter said.

“That sucks Evans,” Sirius said, sounding somewhat like he understood what she was going through.

James didn’t say anything.

**As he expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

 

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."**

 

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

 

**"Well, I just thought... maybe ... it was something to do with ... you know ... her lot."**

“If he means Wizards, why doesn’t he just say it?” Peter asked.

“Do the Dursleys with their ‘perfectly normal thank you very much’ life seem like they would talk that openly about Wizards and other ‘abnormal’ stuff?” James asked rhetorically, mocking the Dursleys in a high pitched, snobbish tone. 

“No I guess not,” Peter answered anyway.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name 'Potter'.**

**He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

“Not really,” Remus interjected. “Who’d name their kid Harry?”

“I would,” Lily and James said at the same time.

“Alas, fair maiden, yet another thing we have in common! We are truly meant to be!”

“Remus, keep reading.”

**Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it was waiting for something. Was he imagining things?**

**Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did ... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind ... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on. He yawned and turned over. It couldn't affect them ...**

**How very wrong he was.**

“Aha! They’re connected to the wizarding world!”

“And it only took you how long to figure that out?” Lily asked Sirius sarcastically.

“Well, that was the first time this Rowling person has given an actually verifiable statement that states that the Dursleys have any sort of connection to wizards. Everything up to this point has been simply insinuations. You-Know-Who could have been referring to anyone.”

“I didn’t know you knew the meaning to words such as verifiable and insinuation, Black. Well, what do you know, you learn something new every day.”

Sirius rolled his eyes at Lily and made a vague comment about her being jealous, resulting in laughs from the boys and a raised eyebrow from Lily until Remus interrupted them by continuing the book.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when the two owls swooped overhead**.

**In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground.**

“Apparition,” the group chorused.

**The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt.**

“Reminds me of Dumbledore,” Sirius thought out loud.

**He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

“Oh my God!”

“I can’t believe this?”

“Sirius you were right!”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised, Evans,” Sirius muttered, shooting her an evil look. “I’m smart!”

The group snorted much to the chagrin of Sirius who glared at them and mumbled something about being underappreciated.

Remus frowned and reread the passage to make sure that the light wasn’t playing tricks on him causing him to read things wrong.

“Why is Professor Dumbledore in a book about Muggles?” Peter asked.

“We’ve already established this isn’t about Muggles, Peter,” Remus reminded him.

“Oh yeah. It’s a prank.”

“It’s not a prank!” Sirius and James insisted at the same time. 

“Oh come on,” Lily urged. “Why else would someone put Dumbledore in there? Obviously to mess with your minds.”

“There is one possibility we haven’t considered,” Remus said quietly. “It could in fact be a book from the future. This could be written by someone who meets Dumbledore in the future. Perhaps this Harry Potter guy _is_ a relative of yours- in the future. Maybe a son or grandson.”

Lily laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous Remus. That’s impossible. Who would go through all the pain of writing a Muggle book about Wizards and then send it back in time?”

“Perhaps it’s meant to warn us of something.”

Remus frowned. “What do you mean, Pete?”

“I mean that this book could be telling us of the future- say it is James’ son or grandson- but it’s giving us the details in advance so we could maybe prevent these things from happening,”

The group stayed silent for nearly a whole minute.

“Well we’ll never know will we now?” Lily asked rhetorically. “Come on Remus, keep reading.”

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He had found what he was looking for in his inside pocket.**

**It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

“He has a Deluminator!” James proclaimed, excited.

“A what?”

“It can take away and put back light! Do you guys know how rare they are?”

“Apparently so rare that we haven’t even heard of them,” Lily retorted.

**He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left in the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him.**

**If anyone looked out of their window now, even the beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street towards number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat.**

**He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

“Professor McGonagall?!” they chorused in varying degrees of shock.

“What’s she doing in this strange world?”

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

“I should have known!” Remus chided himself. “Her animagus is a cat form. I overheard her talking toPomfrey about it one day when I was in the hospital wing!”

“You get sick quite a lot don’t you Remus?” Lily asked. He gave her a look of fear which she attributed to the fact that he felt uncomfortable about his bad health. She put her arm on his. “It’s ok. My mom has bad health too. She was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. I know. It can be hard sometimes.” She gave him an encouraging smile to let him know that she was there for him.

“Thanks Lily,” he replied with a genuine smile. “Let’s keep going, shall we?”

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff too if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

“Celebrating what? Is it Christmas or something?”

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls ... shooting stars ... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

“That little Hufflepuff boy who graduated last year?” Lily asked in confusion.

Sirius shrugged. “I always thought he was a little crazy, to be honest. That boy has too much energy for his own good.”

Lily looked at him in amusement. “No _you_ have too much energy for your own good. He was just a little… hyper… that’s all.”

The boys laughed at her. 

“Ok Lily.”

“Whatever you say Flower.”

**“You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on: "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

“You-Know-Who is gone?!”

“Forever? And Ever?” A pause. “And ever?”

“He’s dead?”

“This is obviously a prank! Please! You-Know-Who? Gone? Yeah right!”

“Keep reading Remus!”

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"A what?"**

" **A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops.**

**"As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -”**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like your self can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort".**

“Don’t say it!” Peter cried. 

“It’s just a name Peter.”

“Yeah, fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself. Or something like that anyway. Dumbledore says it all the time. What?” Sirius asked as everyone gave him weird looks. “I listen… sometimes…”

“Just ignore Sirius,” Remus told her. “He gets hyper after midnight.”

Sirius looked offended and opened his mouth to say something when Peter cut in.

“I just don’t like it.” 

“Like what?” James asked.

“The name.”

“What name?” Sirius again.

“You know who’s name!”

“You mean Voldemort?” James. The two were wearing identical grins as they teased their poor friend.

“Black! Potter!” Lily cried, on Peter’s behalf. 

“Close your ears then,” Black managed to get in before Lily Silenced him. 

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was un-sticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice.**

**"It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's** **name."**

**"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half-exasperated, half-admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the one You-Know - oh, all right, Voldemort was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

“Well she’s right,” James said with a shrug, lazily pulling out his wand to counter lily’s jinx.

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

They paused and exchanged awkward glances, unsure of what to say at that point. They opted to move on.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now.**

**It was plain that whatever 'everyone' was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow.**

“Hey that’s where I live!” James exclaimed.

**He went to find the Potters.**

“My parents?” James asked, sitting upright suddenly, with a serious look on his face.

“I doubt it seeing as this is in the future,” Remus said gently, giving him an understanding look.

**The rumor is that Lily and James Potter**

“What?!”

“Me?”

**are - are - that they're - dead.**

They stopped reading. Lily especially looked shell-shocked. 

“Dead?” Sirius echoed blankly. The four boys turned towards Lily. 

“What?” she asked. When they continued to stare at her, it suddenly hit her. “What you think it’s me?!” she asked incredulously.

“Yeah Lily it… it does seem to… be that way,” Remus said hesitantly, his brown eyes not meeting Lily’s emerald ones. 

“I mean how many James Potters in the world fancy Lilys?” Sirius asked rather bitterly. “God, I need a cigarette,” he muttered, fumbling around in his pocket and pulling out a cigarette which he lit with his wand.

“No! You guys have got to be kidding!” She was looking at them wide-eyed. James had grabbed the book from Remus and was rereading the passage. Peter and Remus were exchanging worried glances. “It _must_ be a joke!”

Sirius blew out a puff of smoke that flew directly into Peter’s face causing him to start coughing. 

“You guys can’t be serious! Remus! You can’t possible believe this. It’s absolutely ridiculous!”

“For once I agree with Evans,” Sirius proclaimed, his gray eyes hard as steel as the entire common room began to smell of smoke.

“Thank you Black! Finally someone with some sense.”

“Evans, did you realize that you just told Sirius that he had sense?” James asked, looking up from the book.

“Potter, be serious. This is not the time for jokes! Remus thinks we’re dead.” 

“Now I didn’t say that!” Remus defended himself. “I just said that it looks like it might after all be about you two.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Potter and I aren’t exactly the best of friends.”

“It’s hardly likely that they’re going to get married and have a kid that saves our world from Voldemort,” Sirius added.

“And die in the process,” Lily finished. “It’s more likely an elaborate prank set up by someone just to confuse us.” 

“Who’d take the time to write a 300 page book about Muggles and You-Know-Who, throwing in one, maybe two lines about you two and the rest about some boy named Harry Potter who’s your son just for a prank?” Peter questioned. “It makes no sense.”

“Well neither does the fact that this book was sent to us from the future,” Sirius snapped. Lily wasn’t sure why Sirius was on her side but at that moment she was simply grateful that someone was.

“I agree with Peter,” James finally said, running a hand through his messy jet-black hair. “Who’d take all this time to write a book about our world and the Muggle world simply to mess with us? It would require tons of research and time-”

“So you think it’s more likely that this is the future and that we’re dead? Oh for God’s sake Black! Put out that cigarette before it sets of the Smoke Detecting Charms. McGonagall is going to burst in here any second thinking you’ve set the place on fire.” He took one last drag and put it out with his wand and Banished it to the trash can in the corner. 

“I’m not saying that!” James argued. “I’m just saying your idea is not very likely.”

Lily’s nostrils flared. “Well neither is yours,” she stated defiantly.

“This book obviously came to us for a reason,” Remus rationalized.

“It could have been meant for anyone!” Sirius contradicted. “What if we found it by sheer dumb luck? What if it was meant for someone else to find?”

“Why don’t we finish it?” Remus asked, trying to return to some semblance of peace. “Why don’t we finish the book? Maybe it’ll give us some clues as to whether it really is the future and why we have it in the first place.” 

“Yeah!” Peter and James immediately cried. 

Sirius didn’t look too keen about the idea for reasons unknown to anyone but himself but finally agreed to keep reading. Lily looked at the boys and finally gave one curt nod, crossing her arms in front of her chest and looking pointedly away from them. 

Remus cleared his throat and backtracked. 

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead.**

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James ... I can't believe it ... I didn't want to believe it ... Oh, Albus ..."**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know ... I know ..." he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry.**

**"But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."**

“Look at that,” Lily couldn’t help but point out. “Our little boy defeated Voldemort. Could that seriously happen in the real world?”

“Well there are all sorts of ancient magic that could cause things like that to happen,” Peter remarked but a withering glare from Lily silenced him. 

Remus continued to read.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done ... all the people he's killed ... he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding ...of all the things to stop him ... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

“His guesses are always good,” Remus said, trying to get everyone back to the light atmosphere of bantering.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took out a watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle.** **They're the only family he has left now."**

**You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't."**

“For once I agree with her,” Sirius drawled. “Those people really were terrible.”

“I’m sure you’d agree with her more if you simply paid attention to her,” Lily pointed out.

“Ah but where’s the fun in that?” James joked, trying to get everyone back to normal.

**I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

“A letter? You can’t explain anything in a letter,” Remus commented, frowning. 

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him!**

**He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will-**

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course.** **But how is the boy getting here Dumbledore?"**

**She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

“That’s ridiculous,” James said. 

Lily gave him a look that said ‘ _No really?_ ’

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

“Hagrid?”

“Do you think the baby will be ok with him?”

“What’s that Evans? Real concern? I thought you said this wasn’t the real future?” Sirius smirked at her. 

“So did you! Plus he’s just a kid. I don’t know if I’d trust any kid under the age of 10 with him. His heart’s in the right place and all but…”

**You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorbike fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

James and Sirius exchanged looks while Peter grinned and Remus simply rolled his eyes. Lily couldn’t help her curiosity; she turned towards them with a questioning look. 

“Sirius has a thing for flying motorbikes,” Remus explained. “He charmed his to fly last summer.” 

Lily tried not to look too impressed by the level of magic required for that kind of task.

**If the motorbike was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorbike?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorbike as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me."**

Sirius sat up straight. “Evans is obviously right. I’d never let anyone touch my baby.”

“Well maybe you’ve changed in the future,” James suggested. “You know become more kind…” They all looked at him as if he’d grown an extra head. “Or not…”

“Sirius hasn’t even let James ride his motorcycle without him. Why would he give it away just like that?” Remus asked thoughtfully.

“Keep reading,” Peter said. “Maybe Hagrid explains it.”

**“I've got him, sir."**

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we were flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

**"Is that where - ?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

“He wouldn’t even if he could,” Remus informed them. “I heard Amos Diggory ask him to heal a scar once when we were in 3rd year. He refused. Something about how they could come in useful.”

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I - could I say goodbye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid.**

**He bent his great shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss.**

**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

Sirius shifted in his seat.

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall. "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -”**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door.**

“What a McGonagall thing to say,” Peter said. “Even in time of crises, she so…”

“Strict?” James finished.

“Yeah…”

**He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

“So they’re celebrating the death of You-Know-Who then?” Peter asked for clarification.

“God Peter, just say his name,” James chided.

**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice. "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

“This is absolutely ridiculous.” Sirius frowned, trying to think of all the reasons he’d lend someone his most precious possession. “He’d better bring it back in one piece or I swear I’ll hurt him in advance.” His teeth were barred and he looked like he was really angry. 

“It’s just a book. No need to get so worked up Black.” Lily had no idea why he was so upset. It could hardly be because of Hagrid borrowing his motorcycle. 

“Yeah, Sirius, calm down mate.” Remus looked at his friend in worry. 

“Don’t talk about things you don’t understand!” he snapped at Lily. She was taken aback. He’d never outright yelled at her before.

“What’s wrong Sirius?” James asked, also sounding serious.

Sirius took a deep breath. “Nothing.”

Remus continued reading.

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself on to the motorbike and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply**.

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street.**

**He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak he was gone.**

“Is that it?” Peter asked.

“No there’s a little more,” Remus replied.

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley ...He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**

Remus closed the book. The five of them sat in silence. They had no idea what to make of it. Why had the book come to them? Was it in fact meant for them? Was it truly the future? Were Lily and James going to end up together- dead? Would their son save the world from Voldemort? They had so many questions and virtually no answers. 

“So we’re going to keep reading then?” Remus asked the group.

James and Peter said ‘yes’ immediately. Sirius looked as if he was about to argue but seemed to change his mind and also agreed to continue. They all turned to look at Lily. 

“Do you still think it’s a prank?” Peter asked kindly. 

Lily sighed. Did she? Well she very badly wanted to but even she had to admit that it was not very likely that someone took all that time to create a book just to spite her. And the Marauders seemed to think it involved her and her son. She suddenly realized that if everything was true, which was what the evidence was point towards, this was the only chance to find out about her son’s life.

“Fine,” she finally announced. “I suppose there’s no harm in just reading it.”

They all said their good nights and parted ways. Lily watched the four boys until they disappeared from view and slowly walked back to where they had been sitting. She didn’t know what to think. She was going to die. She hadn’t allowed herself enough time to think about it but now that she could… She was going to die. She was suddenly gripped with anger. She picked up the nearest object, the book, and threw it across the room with all her might; it shattered a vase and landed on the floor, unharmed. She fell back onto the couch and stared up at the ceiling.

She couldn’t dream. She was never going to get to have a big family. She couldn’t even see her son grow up. She would never travel the world. This was it. She was born to die. 

She hadn’t even realized that she was crying until she realized that front of her nightgown was wet. She hastily wiped them away. Crying was a weakness she couldn’t afford. She _wouldn’t_ afford. She didn’t know how long she sat there but by the time she went up to her bed, it was already dawn.

Little did she know that on the other side of the tower, James Potter was still laying awake thinking about the exact same things she’d just been thinking about.

**TBC**

**A/N: so it’s a little more real and serious because I believe that there are things to be treated lightly, such as making fun of the Dursleys and others that should be handled with a little more sensitivity such as the prospect of members of their group dying. This story will develop all these characters and they might be portrayed in non-conventional ways and a little more seriously. By the way, they’re nearing the end of their 6th year so most of them are already 17. Review please! Thanks!**


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